The Pictures:-

To see who was on the walk, plus the two late arrivals, click on the following pictures:-

To view all the pictures taken on the walk click 'Here' then again on the first picture to view in full screen. Click small arrow on right to continue.

The Walk:-

Walk Leader - Sue Allonby

Distance - 10.9 miles

Weather - Grotty!

 Nineteen walkers and one dog, some having first been pisky-led by the vagaries of satnav, met in a desolate and mizzly layby. Visibility was poor as we made our way along Halifax Road to pick up the Pennine Bridleway down through sheltered woods to cross Thursden Brook and meet the road again. 100m of tarmac led to the bridleway up Rieve Edge and onto Extwistle Moor, from where there were excellent views, but mostly of cloud! Crossing Coalpit Pasture, we headed west downhill, past Swinden Res. and the ancient Twist Castle, but most of the focus was on our our feet, trying to avoid mud which was primaevally deep in places. Approaching Ing Hey Farm, we picked up the (muddy) Bronte Way which we followed a short distance before tackling the "Ladder Stile of Doom" and then taking paths to arrive at and follow Shay Lane. After telling everyone within earshot that I was "looking out for a stile on the right", I was so busy nattering about something else that I missed the stile and led everyone downhill to a dead end at Thursden Brook (actually more of a river). Of course, what goes down has to go up, and steps were retraced!! Once I spotted the stile we were back on track and went downhill once more (literally and, in some cases, metaphorically) to the (very slippery) footbridge, leading to the (uphill but easy) track to Shores Hey (HAPPA centre) and then up the lane to cross the road and take the track down to Burwains Farm, where a donkey greeted us with noisy enthusiasm. It was then a short walk up to Burwians Quarry Farm and down through fields to the barn where we had lunch. Peter Poo (a tup) tried to mug some of us for our butties, but was fortunately unsuccessful.

Leaving Burwains Quarry Farm (now being 19 walkers and 2 dogs), it was down Robin House Lane to cross the fords at Catlow Bottoms, then up to Catlow and the (muddy) bridleway of Crawshaw Lane, leading to the tarmac of Shelfield Lane, which we followed past the impressive Walton Monument (totally invisible in the mist, even though we were only meters away) and down to the charmingly named Slitterforth Farm. Field paths (muddy) led to the muddy woods of Little Moss and then through the front garden of Moss Barn Farm, then it was on to the track leading down to the hamlet of Oaken Bank and up to Alder Hurst Head, which was flying a Jolly Roger (???). A boggy path led us to the Boulsworth Dyke track (also part of the Bronte, Pennine Bridle and Pendle ways) and then it was an easy stroll back to the Halifax Road and the cars, where the layby was still mizzly but a lot less desolate as we were still nattering. Thank you to all for not grumbling about the weather, the extra uphill bit or the fact that we were a bit late back.

Sue.

Thanks Sue for leading the walk which, in spite of the weather was enjoyed by all. Thanks also for doing the above report. Sorry for having mis-captioned the picture taken at the farm near near Swinden Res. as Ing Pigy. In spite of visiting Specsavers mid-week, I should have read it from the OS Map as Ing Hey.

Stan.